While some L-cysteine is directly synthesized in laboratories, most of it is extracted from a cheap and abundant natural protein source: human
hair. The hair is dissolved in acid and L-cysteine is isolated through a chemical process, then packaged and shipped off to commercial bread
producers. Besides human hair, other sources of L-cysteine include chicken feathers, duck feathers, cow horns and petroleum byproducts.

Most of the hair used to make L-cysteine is gathered from the floors of barbershops and hair salons in China, by the way.

In the United States, azodicarbonamide has generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status and is allowed to be added to flour at levels up to 45
ppm.

In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive has identified azodicarbonamide as a respiratory sensitizer (a possible cause of asthma) and determined
that products should be labeled with "May cause sensitisation by inhalation." The World Health Organization has linked azodicarbonamide to
"respiratory issues, allergies and asthma." Britain, Europe, and Australia now ban its use in food

Translation? The substance is actually harmless and there is no evidence whatsoever that it causes anyone any harm at all. It creates air and makes
for a lighter and fluffier bread. That's it. The fact that it is on the GRAS list speaks volumes. This is really a tempest in a teapot and the hippie
blogger can take a flying leap. You know what people should really be thinking about? The wretched cured meat on ALL of their subs NO MATTER WHERE
THEY GET THEM and all of the sulfates they contain. Knowledge is power.

I suppose there are two schools of thought on this and they are very very far apart on basic approach.

#1. is the line of thought you represent by your view. I'd characterize that as full and total acceptance of the fact our national food supply and
overall food chain is hopelessly crossed and mixed with chemicals and non-food items, directly inserted (as opposed to Teflon pans leaching or plastic
tableware leaching into food) into the food itself. This approach would seem to see the 'betterment of man through modern chemistry' as having
nothing wrong with it....and fair enough to have that opinion too. We all have a right to one, and however wrong I may consider it? It's your right
to it and to defend it, as you choose.

#2. is the line of thought that food and artificially produced substances to manipulate it's taste, appearance or smell for purely cosmetic reasons
is not only wrong, but ill conceived and likely doing immense health and other tangible damage to us on a physical and perhaps psychological level, on
a daily basis. Even chemicals like this, which I'm sure are not KNOWN to be lethal or carry documented and proven side effects.....freely mix and
interact with a thousand other chemicals and artificial substances that can never, for their sheer variety, be tested even ONCE for interactivity
issues or combinations.

So, I'm obviously a #2 kinda guy...not to be confused with another popular reference for that.

I can't do a thing about the poison and toxins in the food supply. I'm just one guy among millions, sitting on less than 1/4 lot within a city. I
own my little piece of the American Pie ...but that doesn't allow me to become Farmer John on a postage stamp, either. I have to
...tolerate...ingesting the toxins or I can starve while accomplishing nothing but a pathetic form of suicide.

I sure don't have to accept or be content with the situation though

----

...and give yourself an eye opening experience some time, if you haven't done this. Block out about 2 hours (That is what it'll take to be fair and
open about it) and spend that time in a Wally World Super Center or something similar for the endless isles of choices of the same things. What will
take time is taking down cans, boxes and packages to read the back. I did this 3 years ago and it wasn't for idle curiosity. My piss poor diet
choices destroyed my very lucrative and satisfying career, to put blame where it's rightly due for that. No one else destroyed my career. I did. I
killed it one dinner plate at a time through desire over need and the lack of control between those two things....

So it was..I spent a couple hours in *ALL* the food isles by the time I was done, trying to build a healthy menu onboard an 18 wheeler where home was
5-7 days between seeing for a day or so at a time.

Know what you'll find? What I found? First.... Every damn thing on those shelves is SO loaded with grams and grams of salt (sodium) that it's a
miracle we don't all form into little pillars of it, old testament style. The IMPORTANT thing you'll find is that with PRECIOUS FEW exceptions?
Every single food item sold in a modern store has chemicals from industrial plants..and usually many of them...right down to the color and flavor.

Every need, meal and desire seen to by corporate supplies, for a price of course, and made the Burger King way....Our Way....even if it kills every
last one of us.

Not everyone will accept this chemical stew we call a grocery store or dinner plate. Not all of us.

Wrabbit2000
I sure don't have to accept or be content with the situation though

...and give yourself an eye opening experience some time, if you haven't done this. Block out about 2 hours (That is what it'll take to be fair and
open about it) and spend that time in a Wally World Super Center or something similar for the endless isles of choices of the same things. What will
take time is taking down cans, boxes and packages to read the back. I did this 3 years ago and it wasn't for idle curiosity. My piss poor diet
choices destroyed my very lucrative and satisfying career, to put blame where it's rightly due for that. No one else destroyed my career. I did. I
killed it one dinner plate at a time through desire over need and the lack of control between those two things....

So it was..I spent a couple hours in *ALL* the food isles by the time I was done, trying to build a healthy menu onboard an 18 wheeler where home was
5-7 days between seeing for a day or so at a time.

Know what you'll find? What I found? First.... Every damn thing on those shelves is SO loaded with grams and grams of salt (sodium) that it's a
miracle we don't all form into little pillars of it, old testament style. The IMPORTANT thing you'll find is that with PRECIOUS FEW exceptions?
Every single food item sold in a modern store has chemicals from industrial plants..and usually many of them...right down to the color and flavor.

Every need, meal and desire seen to by corporate supplies, for a price of course, and made the Burger King way....Our Way....even if it kills every
last one of us.

Not everyone will accept this chemical stew we call a grocery store or dinner plate. Not all of us.

Well said.

Personally, I've found one of the benefits of being a "House Husband" has been being able to cook most meals from scratch using fresh ingredients.
With locally grown produce where possible. We still can't get away from all additives, but at least I can regulate them more.

Of course, then we go out for a Burger and completely Bugger up the whole Healthier thing. But they taste so damn good. Sometimes a greasy
burger and heavily salted fries is the only thing that will hit the spot. The guilt is subdued with a couple of beers.

You know, what you refer to there is the hardest part of being a starving college student in middle age. In my 20's? Heck..who cared or thought about
the difference in home cooked fresh vs. Pizza Hut on a pan? It all ate the same and came out the same way eventually. Ahh...the joys of youth. Where
do we go back and try that one again? lol...

I think one of my greatest joys of graduating and getting on with my career in a few years will be a true and real income again, which allows for the
little things ... like grocery shopping with no care or awareness of WHAT the running total in the cart is, because cost isn't the issue or even
passing concern. Oh...that has got to be one of the best aspects I take as a memory from trucking. That sense of total professional and financial
freedom, within my station in life, of course.

..some day..We'll be able to afford fresh fixings as the norm around here, not the exception, again. Ahh.. Eventually.

You know what I don't trust about these places? The smell. Every single Subway smells exactly the same. Every MacDonalds smells exactly the same.
Every BurgerKing smells the same. When I make these foods at home it doesn't smell like that so why should it in the shop?

Oh yeah... Chemicals.

You either don't care that there's chemicals in your food or you don't.

'but it's on a list as perfectly safe! ' I hear you cry. So was smoking, thalidomide and now in Japan even the safe level of radiation has been
raised so they can carry on selling food. Isn't it about time we understood that nothing is in our 'food' for our benefit?

These companies don't give a damn about you no matter what you think or what company policy says. They care about profit and if it's more profitable
for them to put metal shavings or toxic waste in your food and you not to find out, then you bet your bad ass they will

Up until a couple of years ago I'd never heard the term "Food Desert".

If a box of Mac 'n' Cheese costs about the same as an Apple, the box is bought because it goes further. If the store doesn't sell any Apples it
will stop stocking Apples.

Look at the wanted list of any Food Bank and some of the top items wanted (apart from fresh fruit and veg) are boxes of Mac 'n' Cheese,
Hamburger Helper etc. Not because people really want the highly processed crap, but because it will feed more for less money.

When the time finally came to say enough in my life, I was extreme about cutting out the trash and junk. I've eased a bit over time and allow some
indulgences now and then...but rare, compared to how I once was.

The thing is..when I cut out the crap almost entirely? The oddest thing happened...and I was *NOT* expecting it. I had withdrawal. Honest to God
psychological withdrawal with some minor physical signs as well. The toxins are mildly ADDICTIVE ...the fresh and real good food comparisons are not
so much. So...what will you grab on your shelf when your pleasure center says one thing and your logical mind says another? Most make the wrong
choice, I think...with a little help, of course.

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